Corporate & Hospitality

Paralympic History

In 1998 the Cerebral Palsy Australian Sport & Recreation Federation (CPASRF) and Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) decided to form a Cerebral Palsy Football team to compete at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, where they finished 7th in their first major tournament.

In 2005 a historic agreement was made with the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) to take control of the National Team with aims to qualify for the 2008 Paralympic in Beijing.

In 2006 Paul Brown was appointed as Head Coach of the team.

On the 12 May the teams will get together for the first time since July 2005 at Narrabeen for a camp. They will be busy preparing for the 2006 FESPIC Games, where it is expected that Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Iran, Australia and China. Iran (World Ranking - 3) and Australia (World Ranking - 10) are the two highest ranked teams for this tournament.

The plan for the next 12 - 18 months consists of training camps, FESPIC Games in Kuala Lumpa, Malaysia and the World Cup (venue to be announced).

The FFA also plans to assist in the development of Cerebral Palsy Football within each state. NSW, QLD and Victoria currently have State Teams. If you are interested in finding out more information on the game within your state please contact the FFA or the APC.

Cerebral Palsy Football is played on a field similar size to a hockey field (75 m x 55 m) and it is 7 a side game. Every player has a classification and these classifications are restricted to one C5/C6 on the field at any time and a maximum of 2 x C8-s on the field. The remaining classifications can consist of additional C5 or C6-s plus C7-s.

Cerebral Palsy Football is played under FIFA rules with a couple of minor changes, which include no offside and the players are permitted to roll the ball instead of throwing the ball in.